Hello,
I am new to making cakes, but I am really loving it. I made my second purse cake for a family member and would like to know how much should I ask for something like this if someone wanted one?
Thanks for your help.
The size of the purse is actually a 9x13 cut in half and carved.
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a ball park figure will be fine, just an idea.
Thanks

I have no idea, sorry But I wanted to say your cake is AMAZING. I LOVE all the little details you did with the makeup and credit card. Awesome cake Okay that's all I got.

Thanks sooo much! I love to get into the details! The more challenging the better I like it. lol!

Wow! so much detail how many hours did it take you ?

Lets see, I made the makeup items in about a day...and the cake I would say 5 to 6 hrs because I have no idea at what I'm doing! lol. I was actually in a rush. I wanted to get it done and delivered by today and I started the makeup Wednesday. I wish I would have had more time because it would have come out better. The MMF was to soft. and I didn't feel like making it over. I really want to start a business of novelty cakes, since I stay home.

oh and really it was longer if you add making the chocolate buttercream icing, MMF and looking at coach purses on the internet..lol. I picked some out I liked and made the cake totally different.

Wow...your sculpting skills are awesome! It looks wonderful. That being said, I know that a cake like that produced in the bakery I worked for would go for $10 a serving--at LEAST. And that wouldn't include any of the make-up items you hand-made. Those would start at $5 a piece and up depending on the item. HTH!

Thanks!
And a serving size would be a 1x2? or 2x2? I am a very detailed person when it comes to sculpting...and I am very picky...my husband says that I am to critical on myself. lol

Use this as a guide.

http://shinymetalobjects.net/cake/calculator/cakulator.cgi

Even if your cake is sculpted, you can figure it out based what size you started with and recalculate the servings based on how much you've cut out.

Thank you for the link. I was thinking 125? Would that be to cheap or to much?

If you spent 20 hours on it at $10 an hour, add $20 in overhead and $40 in ingredients, you're already at a cost of $260. Add 20% for your profit margin and you're at $312.

Make sure you have liability insurance...if you didn't get permission from Coach and Visa they could come after you for copyright violations.

oh wow..ok thanks for telling me that I had no idea. Well this cake I gave away to a family member..so that should be ok I guess.

Copyright violations do not require a commercial transaction, I would just make sure no one posts a picture of the cake publicly where it can be traced back to you.

Thanks alot for your help. Ya know I have seen ALOT of brand name things on this website. Wonder if everyone has permission.

You did amazing work on this cake! I do purse cakes and sell them but make sure they are not a copy of any licensed purse but rather a creation of my own imagination. For a cake with work and accessories like this one I would not have done it for less than $150.00. HTH

Heartsnsync,

Thanks for your reply and your compliment! That's what I was thinking, 150 and not 125. I still think a bakery would charge more...but I'm not a bakery skill level either. I can't base my prices on how long it takes me because I work slow and then end up changing things sometimes. Well the purse design was my idea, I just flow with it lol. But of course the C is not mine. I really didn't think about it when I gave it away.

Not sure where you're located, but bakeries around my area would charge AT LEAST $150 and most of them don't produce cakes that clean. Way to go!

I just checked out your pics - and I love them all!! You are very talented-especially for these being your first! I am very new as well, and I can't get anything to come out looking that perfect yet! Amazing shoe- and I was just wondering how you did the zipper on the purse and what you are using for the credit card and other words...

Debbye27,
Thank you so much! That shoe was actually sculpted from polymer clay, so it was a keeper lol. I made a zipper mold from a zipper I had. Works perfect. I think you can buy zipper molds too. As for the credit card I hand painted it all except where it says love to shop I used a edible pen for this. I just used an actual debit card and traced it on a piece of cardstock paper, cut it out then cut my gumpaste credit card from that. I love to hand paint so I would rather do that then writing with pens, unless I could find some really fine point edible pens. I also love to use stamps for scrapbooking. They are great! That's how I made the coach word. It shoud have been smaller but I didn't have smaller stamps.
Oh and by the way the people I gave the cake to won't eat it lol they said its to pretty to cut. I think they are going to freeze it. IDK..lol

oh and all the makeup letters are handpainted.